


The Fall

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Sith AU, Sith Anakin, Sith Obi-Wan, a happy ending all things considered, empress padme, mental manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 22:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6489535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Change was never easy and that applied to the act of turning someone to the Dark Side. Nevertheless, with Anakin, there was a solid foundation in place that Padmé had to work with and the seeds she planted seemed to practically absorb into Anakin’s mindset. Padmé always knew that it would take time but in the end, his fall was inevitable. The real challenge was Obi-Wan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been playing with this idea for a really long time and finally got the time to write it down. I hope you enjoy this and thanks for reading :)

Change was never easy and that applied to the act of turning someone to the Dark Side. Nevertheless, with Anakin, there was a solid foundation in place that Padmé had to work with and the seeds she planted seemed to practically absorb into Anakin’s mindset. Padmé always knew that it would take time but in the end, his fall was inevitable. The real challenge was Obi-Wan.

From the moment she saw them both at fourteen years of age, she knew they would be hers. The power that Anakin held was so tangible and the rage that she had felt coming off of Obi-Wan when he had killed Maul had been intoxicating. Padmé had vowed to cultivate that power and to produce that rage in Obi-Wan again. However, time had been the enemy and though Anakin would never truly fit in with the Jedi, after ten years of hardly seeing each other, it was clear Obi-Wan had found a place in the Order.

It wrought her with fury and wrath that the Order could have doused Obi-Wan’s fire within a decade. However, the Battle of Geonosia helped to show Padmé that it had not been doused but tamed. He just needed the right substance to fuel it again.

The seeds that she planted in Obi-Wan’s mind did not take root as readily as they had in Anakin. Some stuck and others didn’t. The few that grew roots were shallow at best.

She tried other tactics besides mental manipulation. Seduction had worked wonders with Anakin and perhaps it would work with Obi-Wan as well. She let a stray hand appear here and there with an innocent expression. The first few moments Obi-Wan would gently walk away or remove an arm, not commenting on her movements because surely she couldn’t be implying anything (it was almost laughable how much faith Obi-Wan put in her). But eventually he didn’t shy away from those slight touches and even eased into them after a difficult mission.

He still kept a look of indifference upon his Jedi calm face but his eyes betrayed him. How they strayed across her or Anakin, lingered where he shouldn’t. It pleased her more than anything and she knew that he would fall just as Anakin had.

However, her Master’s plans disrupted her own. She had allowed Anakin to get close to Palpatine because she knew her Master wanted to use him to replace her as his apprentice. Thankfully, he was clueless to Anakin’s devotion to her and Anakin worked as a double agent of sorts, revealing to her Palpatine’s movements and plans. The creation of Order 66 was a clever thing but Padmé knew that it would cause her work with Obi-Wan to be set back.

Nevertheless, she had new plans put in place and right before Order 66 was implemented, she stole Obi-Wan from the galaxy. Unconscious and with his connection to the Force temporarily cut, it was just too amusing to see the Jedi scramble to find their lost Master. Padmé had been careful. Not a trace had been left. There was nothing to be done and before the Jedi could even come to a consensus on what to do about the suspicious disappearance, Order 66 went out.

As the Jedi fell, one by one across the Galaxy, Padmé finally had the chance to take her lightsaber in hand once more. With Anakin, they killed Palpatine and claimed him to be a secret agent of the treacherous Jedi scum. The fact that her old Master’s name would be remembered in history as a Jedi held a wonderful sense of irony.

Now, with the Clone Army in her control, it was almost child’s play to take control and claim the title of Empress. The first time she stood in the Senate, eyes finally allowed to blaze that brilliant yellow that had lurked just beneath her brown irises, Anakin at her side, his children nearly ready to be born, and fear coming off the Senators in waves, she had never been happier. The only thing that could have made it better was Obi-Wan.

Once her position as the ruler of the new Empire was cemented and the children born, she finally went to see Obi-Wan. Waking him from his months’ long slumber, he stirred and she noted how his eyes fell on her, still unfocused and confused.

“Padmé? What—”

“Shh, it is alright,” she cooed, sitting next to him and running a hand threw his hair. “You’re safe now. The Jedi can’t taint you anymore.”

Obi-Wan looked on, confused as ever but finally his eyes focused. He flinched but couldn’t do much more than that, being immobile for fourth months. Nevertheless, Padmé could tell that Obi-Wan was trying to reach out to the Force, trying to reach anything, yet the suppressing collar she had on him stopped any attempts. All he could do was allow his body to give into automatic reactions as he looked into her yellow eyes: hair rising, goosebumps forming, shivering, sweat. Padmé just smiled, continuing to run her fingers through his hair.

His voice came out soft and pleading. “It’s a trick.”

“No trick dear Obi-Wan,” she replied. “You needn’t fear though. You’re safe. The Jedi are dead.”

She felt Obi-Wan’s heart rate accelerate.

“Obviously I will give you time to process all this but let me know when you are ready for others. Anakin is dying to see you,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. “I must leave you now but I will be back soon. There is a great deal to do in the new Empire.”

In all actuality, Padmé was free for the moment but that was beside the point. She wanted to see how Obi-Wan would react, what he would do.

She watched with Anakin from security cameras as Obi-Wan tried to stand. He fell hard but didn’t let that stop him. He managed to get to the door but there was no way for him to open it. At first, there was mostly panting as he tried to gain his breath and keep calm. However, unable to release his emotions into the Force, he had to confront them instead. At about twenty minutes in, he started yelling for Padmé.

He wanted answers, wanted to understand why. He yelled for her reasons for knowledge on the Jedi and the Republic. Eventually, his posture dipped as sobs wracked his body instead. Poor Obi-Wan, so confused and alone.

Anakin kissed the back of her neck as she lay against him. “You’ll need to be careful. I’d hate to see you break him.”

“Obi-Wan is strong. He’ll understand eventually,” Padmé grinned.

However, eventually was the key word in that sentence. After several more visitations, even allowing Anakin to see him, Obi-Wan changed from hurt and angry to denial. Instead of shouting at her and even trying to attack from time to time, Obi-Wan just stopped.

By then, he knew that the Republic was no more. Padmé had spoken of the Clones and their slaughter of the Jedi from the smallest youngling to the eldest Master. He knew that Palpatine had been Darth Sidious, her Master, and that he was dead now, leaving her to take his place. He knew that Anakin stood by her side, knew that the age of democracy and the Republic were over. Perhaps she had revealed it all to him to quickly because he just became closed off.

The seeds that she had planted along with the Jedi’s warped teachings hadn’t been strong enough to overpower one or the other so he had receded into himself and tried to disappear.

“You went to far! You destroyed him! You—”

“Anakin,” Padmé murmured, a slight smile on her face. “Your anger is beautiful but don’t let it go to far. Obi-Wan will come back. I have only just begun.”

With that in mind, she let Obi-Wan sit a little longer to see if he’d naturally come out of it. However, when that did not occur, she found moments to sit with him and showed him several holos. They were bloody and horrible and Padmé loved to reminisce on how she got rid of testy senators and traitors to the Empire. She knew that the holos would only confirm the side of Obi-Wan that said the Sith were evil, that killing was unnecessary, but then she took him out of his room, the Force suppressant collar still on, and showed him another side.

He saw her children for the first time, saw Anakin carrying Luke on his shoulders and Leia playing with her toys. He saw happiness and smiles and eyes that flashed yellow and his bland armor cracked ever so slightly. Obi-Wan was confused as to how he could see all this from a family of Sith.

As Obi-Wan just sat and stared, Padmé leaned over and whispered in his ear, “They never could have known their father. They would have grown up without him. Anakin would have been torn in two if the Jedi were still here. Would you wish that pain upon him?”

Obi-Wan didn’t answer, Padmé didn’t expect him too, but she could see that gears were turning as his brain tried to process this information.

The next step was a more complex one.

At regular intervals, Padmé would sit with Obi-Wan, relishing in some beautifully blood red activity, speaking sweet, venomous words into his ears, and then she would turn around and have them spend time with her children where his ears could be filled with laughter. Many times, she took him to her rooms herself but several times she had guards do it to.

Every time Obi-Wan moved from his room to hers, there wasn’t an incident as Obi-Wan never caused any trouble. However, at one point, she asked two guards in secret to rough him up a bit. They simply believed that she wanted them to cause trouble for the prisoner, provoke some type of reaction out of him. In reality, the plan was much more complicated than that.

Padmé swept into Obi-Wan’s room like an avenging angel after one guard had punched Obi-Wan for the fifth time and the other had downed him with a kick to the gut. Obi-Wan hadn’t made a noise. His body acted on instinct with the movements, dodging where he could and simply taking it where he couldn’t. He was kneeled over, looking up at the guards just when Padmé’s lightsaber cut vertically through one guard and took the other guard’s head from his shoulders.

She turned off her lightsaber and knelt beside Obi-Wan. The right side of the halved guard was closest and the flesh still sizzled, orange and glowing.

Holding Obi-Wan close to her, she murmured, “I’m so sorry Obi-Wan. You have my word that it will never happened again.”

It was clear Obi-Wan didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t understand why she would become so upset she would kill two of her own guards for him. He couldn’t comprehend how she mercilessly cut one in half and then could go to stroking his face and wiping away blood from his lips with such tender care.

“You know,” she said softly, “I understand why you’ve receded. I’ve killed people you once thought of as friends. You respected the Jedi Order and thought of it as your home. But a home is where you are loved. The Jedi could not love; it is in their code. But Anakin loves you, he always has. I do as well.”

Obi-Wan avoided her gaze. As little as he reacted, he did seem to know that Padmé could see the truth in his eyes.

“The Jedi Order could never love you,” murmured Padmé. “I’m sure they were more than a little pleased when Qui-Gon passed. They noticed the unhealthy attachment between you two. It probably gave them a breath of fresh air, knowing that they wouldn’t have to deal with it themselves.”

His jaw twitched, a small action but certainly more than usual.

“You loved Qui-Gon, I know you did. And the Order would have destroyed that love. But not here. You are able to accept that love, to feel it and the pain that was left behind with his death. Just remember we love you and this is your home now. You are finally safe to feel your emotions. Not just the fear and rage. There is pleasure as well,” Padmé said as she trailed a finger along Obi-Wan’s jawline before letting him go. “I’ll have someone come by to tend to you. But rest easy Obi-Wan. I won’t let this happen again.”

Once her back was turned, Padmé allowed the glowing smile that came to her lips. It had gone better than expected. An idea had also formed inside her mind and she quickly put it into action.

She knew Maul lived and that her Master had set him aside for further use when he tried to overthrow him. Padmé hadn’t cared about Maul or what he did with his miserable self but now she was extremely interested in finding him again. Not only had he killed Qui-Gon but he had also killed Obi-Wan’s almost lover, the Duchess Satine. Surely his presence would provoke something out of Obi-Wan.

Hunting Maul was as difficult and time consuming as Padmé expected it to be. For the moment, she continued with the usual back and forth with Obi-Wan, revealing to him how warm and inviting the Sith were and how cold the Jedi had been. Anakin spent his time with his former Master as well. Padmé often watched what occurred between the two to see if there was any change in Obi-Wan’s demeanor. Possibly her favorite moment that occurred between them was when she watched Anakin lock Obi-Wan into a forceful kiss, one which Obi-Wan instinctively leaned into before flying backwards, eyes wide and confused.

But other than that short moment, Obi-Wan stubbornly remained inside, hiding away from the truth of the world.

Padmé had shown him other holos, physical evidence, even taken him around Coruscant three separate times so that if any doubt ever remained in his mind, it was squelched immediately. The Galaxy he had once known was gone and only the Empire stood in its remains.

However, it would take months before something truly changed in Obi-Wan.

When Leia and Luke passed their first birthday it was only then that Padmé finally found Maul. He put up an almost admirable fight but Padmé had been privy to a far more extensive training than Maul ever had. Anakin took care of Maul, keeping watch over him and then prepping him once they arrived on Coruscant again. Padmé saw to Obi-Wan, guiding him away from the usual path to hers and the children’s room and instead led him to a proper cell with no light or comfort like he had.

Anakin had strung up Maul so that he was suspended in front of them. Padmé could feel Obi-Wan freeze at the sight and he stiffened in her arms.

“It’s alright dear,” she cooed as she kissed the back of his neck. “We’ve brought him as a present for you.”

Obi-Wan just stared, unable to respond.

Anakin approached him and opened up one of Obi-Wan’s hands. He pushed a blade into it. “With everything that he’s done to you, I would gladly kill him for you but that isn’t my place. He took your Master away from you, your Duchess. They need to be revenged.”

Obi-Wan shook his head but Padmé noted that he didn’t loosen his grip on the blade in front of him. There they were, emotions bubbling up just beneath the surface. He just needed the right crack that would allow them all to come rushing forth.

There were several thoughts that Padmé thought of and she was sure that Anakin could produce words that would break Obi-Wan’s surface. However, she was pleasantly surprised when it was neither of them that caused it.

“You think he’ll break?” spit out Maul. “I killed the Duchess in front of his very eyes and he did nothing, could do nothing! His _revered_ Master was child’s play! I could kill yourself and your husband and your children. I could cut them apart, piece by piece, their screams traveling across a planet and he wouldn’t—”

So that was it. Threatening the children. As confused as Obi-Wan’s thoughts were of herself and Anakin, or whether he wanted revenge or not, he did undoubtedly love her children. The thought made her smile all the wider as Obi-Wan moved with surprising speed despite the Force-Suppressant collar, grabbed Maul’s tongue, and cut it out before he could say another word. At hearing Maul’s screams while gagging on his own blood, Obi-Wan froze again and looked down at the slimy organ that he held in his hands.

He dropped it along with the knife which clattered against the floor. He took several steps back, his eyes wide and fearful. He shook his head as if that would take away what had happened but the evidence remained in front of him.

Anakin moved next to him and stroked Obi-Wan’s face. “I’m surprised you got to him first. I was ready to do the same. To try and threaten my children…but you would never do that. Would you Obi-Wan? You love them, want to protect them. They love you as well. They would be so proud that you would go to these lengths to keep them safe.”

Obi-Wan started to shake in Anakin’s arms and Padmé gave a slight nod to Anakin. He took Obi-Wan away and Padmé dealt with Maul so that he would not choke on his own blood. She would not bring Obi-Wan back right away but would allow this new development to fester and grow.

After some thought, she decided to move to another step. They would come back to Maul later. Now, after several days since Obi-Wan had cut the former Sith’s tongue out, Padmé once again guided him out of his room and to her own living quarters. The kids were not out and playing like they usually were and Anakin was not there either. No, she took him to a room within the suite and made a sweeping gesture at it.

“This is yours Obi-Wan.”

He blinked at her.

“The children adore seeing you. This way you needn’t be guided from one side of this building to another.”

Obi-Wan looked away, once again, avoiding eye contact so that Padmé couldn’t completely read him. The fact that he felt he needed to hide his true thoughts was promising though.

“We’ll be having dinner in three hours. Until then, please take the time to become comfortable with your new room.”

She left Obi-Wan and from that point on, he stayed with them. Though he likely didn’t realize it right away, Padmé was putting a great deal of trust in him. Often, herself and Anakin had to be elsewhere, dealing with the politics and citizens of their Empire. Originally, she had kept trusted guards with the children at such times but she slowly waned off those guards, at least inside the rooms. They of course remained around all entrances and exits but on the inside, it was often just Obi-Wan and the twins.

Padmé made her trust in him clear though when one night as Anakin put the children to sleep, she finally took off the collar. It had been over a year, nearly two, since he had last felt the Force and he couldn’t help but weep as the connection snapped back into place, raw and no longer familiar.

Holding him tight against her form, Anakin soon joined them, softly caressing Obi-Wan until his tears stilled.

“You’re the only one I trust besides Anakin,” whispered Padmé. “And he can’t watch Luke and Leia all the time. I need him by my side. But you can keep them safe from traitors and assassins and rebels. You can watch over them when we can’t so that people like Maul won’t hurt them. I’m trusting you to keep them safe. I also trust you, Obi-Wan.”

Anakin softly kissed the trails that the tears had left behind on Obi-Wan’s face. “You love our children don’t you Obi-Wan? You’ll keep them safe, won’t you?”

In that moment, Padmé could have practically crushed Obi-Wan out of joy as he actually nodded a confirmation. This was good. This was very good.

When away, Padmé regularly checked in on how Obi-Wan and the children were doing. She was interested to see if Obi-Wan would ever try to leave, alone or with the children. Perhaps at the start he would have but now he simply accepted this new life.

When the children began to talk, that brought more scenarios that had Padmé grinning. It was already clear that they were taking after herself and Anakin in their short phrases and one-word responses. She could still tell that Obi-Wan thought that something was wrong, that the way they reacted to certain things was wrong, yet the most he did as far as interference went was patting Leia on the head when she succeeded in tearing all her toys apart in one go through a Force filled tantrum.

Padmé was pleased at watching that. Even at such a young age, her children were already so incredibly strong. And Obi-Wan didn’t not interfere when they so clearly used their emotions in the Force. He accepted them, now could he accept his own use of it.

Then the next part of Obi-Wan’s downfall was not a part of Padmé’s doing yet she took it as a sign that she was on the right path.

While letting the Senators pretend that they were still in a democracy, she and Anakin got word that some rebel scum had attempted to kidnap her children. The only reason why Padmé didn’t kill the messenger then and there and run to her children was because the man assured her that both children were fine and that Kenobi was caring for them. He offered her a holorecording of the events and Padmé quickly took it, eager to see what had happened.

Whether for ransom or because the rebels simply believed she didn’t deserve her children, Padmé did not know nor care. What she cared about was how Obi-Wan reacted. The introduction of a rebel would have given Obi-Wan an ideal moment to leave and even take the children with him. Or he could have at least tried.

Instead, as she watched the rebel come in, Obi-Wan responded in kind, automatically using the Force to push the person back and restrict their movement. The rebel spoke many lies to Obi-Wan, lies that she knew he would have once listened to, and there was hesitation in his movements at certain points, but ultimately he managed to get the kidnapper’s blaster away from them and pinned him on the floor. Luke and Leia, not quite realizing the danger that they had been in, cheered and Luke cried out, “Shoot ‘em! He tried to hurt Leia. Shoot ‘em in the head.”

The words were amusing but Padmé focused on Obi-Wan. Killing the man while he was down would not have been the Jedi way. Even if he didn’t know the kidnapper’s intentions, the right step would have been to take him captive. Truthfully, being able to question the rebel would have been more helpful to the Empire too but Padmé greatly preferred what happened next.

Obi-Wan fired into the kidnapper’s skull. The rebel died with the first blast but Obi-Wan fired one…two…three more times before finally getting off the body. Leia and Luke cheered in the background.

Padmé and Anakin swept back to their rooms after the holorecording had ended. The body and all damaged furniture had already been moved and Obi-Wan sat on the main room’s couch. His gaze was unfocused as Leia and Luke played at his feet. The moment they saw her and their father, they started to babble excitedly at what Obi-Wan had done.

Padmé took them both into her arms and listened to them as Anakin sat with Obi-Wan, congratulating him and thanking him for stopping the rebel scum. Obi-Wan nodded but still did not speak. That night, Anakin offered him a place in their bed but he didn’t take it. That was of little consequence though. It was only a matter of time before he would.

Then came a period of waiting.

The gears in Obi-Wan’s head were turning at a constant pace and no more stimulus was needed. He simply had to let everything truly absorb and be processed. Several months of this occurred until a true milestone was reached when the twins were two and a half years old.

Obi-Wan had spent close to three years with them, about one and a half living in theirs and the children’s rooms. For the most part, he had not talked during those years yet at one dinner as Luke babbled on and on, Obi-Wan suddenly interrupted the boy.

His voice was soft and scratchy and the words that fell from his tongue were odd. He emphasized the wrong parts, pronounced things slightly off, but the words came nonetheless.

“I might not have known you if the Jedi were still here.”

Padmé could tell that Anakin was ready to jump at the sudden turn but she stilled him with a hand. She waited for the conversation to continue, her eyes trained on Obi-Wan and her son.

“I wouldn’t know my daddy,” Luke said with a nod. “Mommy says I wouldn’t’ve known Leia either. That true?”

“Possibly,” murmured Obi-Wan.

“Daddy wouldn’t’ve loved me. ‘Cause Jedi aren’t supposed to love,” continued Luke. “Do you love me?”

“Very much,” Obi-Wan softly replied.

“Yay! I love you too!”

“I love you too,” agreed Leia, her voice incredibly earnest for one her age. “Do you love Mommy and Daddy?”

“Yes,” whispered Obi-Wan and it was like saying that simple word was truly breaking him.

Padmé could see that it was starting to come through, to show itself, the emotions that he kept underneath for so long. She quickly finished dinner and guided the children to their beds before her and Anakin took Obi-Wan off to the largest open area on Coruscant, the lobby of the Senate building. He stood in that empty room, for a moment doing nothing.

Then the scream occurred, loud and piercing and Padmé could feel the Force shaking in response.

Obi-Wan swung at anything and everything as he released his rage and with it, an odd sort of acceptance. His anger became more pointed, better directed, and when Obi-Wan let out his first laugh, deranged and harsh, Padmé couldn’t help but let lose a smile full of teeth. For some time, the power and emotion remained but it redirected itself from anger and destroying the structure around him to lust.

That was the night they took Obi-Wan to bed.

They marked each other’s skin like a painter with a blank canvas. Padmé’s first cut was her favorite though. She took Obi-Wan in a deep kiss that had their teeth knocking together and when she finally pulled back, she bit hard into Obi-Wan’s bottom lip and tore at the skin. Tasting his blood in her own mouth, she traced the deep cut that would lead to a handsome scar. It marked Obi-Wan as hers and Anakin’s.

Right then and there, Padmé had gained everything that she had wanted.

After all were fully sated, Padmé remained awake, curled up against Anakin’s backside. Over Anakin’s shoulder, she looked at Obi-Wan’s black and blue body mixed with red marks that were like symbols representing his fall. Nevertheless, she now knew that there was one last step to be made.

The following day, Anakin brought Obi-Wan his lightsaber for the first time. Upon turning it on, Obi-Wan saw a red blade extend from the familiar hilt.

“I figured once you had it back, you might like a change,” Padmé whispered against Obi-Wan’s ear. “How does it feel? The power? The strength?”

“Freeing,” Obi-Wan responded. He still spoke sparingly and it would take time for his voice to fully return but hearing him speak brought pleasure to Padmé.

Anakin grinned. “Freeing it may be but you must take your first taste of revenge. Padmé?”

She hooked one arm around Obi-Wan’s as he powered off his lightsaber. “I can make this power inside you grow. I can teach you how to focus it and harness it and how it can fill you like nothing else can.”

“She’s an excellent teacher,” Anakin whispered into Obi-Wan’s ear.

“But the first lesson will be a simple enough act,” murmured Padmé. “I know you will impress us.”

They walked Obi-Wan back to that cell that had zero contact from the outsider world. Upon entry, Maul stirred and though he couldn’t answer anyways, from the look in his eyes, Padmé was sure he would have stayed carefully silent anyways. He had learned to hold his tongue to late.

“You kept him for me?” asked Obi-Wan.

“Of course,” Anakin replied. “Only you deserve to perform the last blows.”

“Qui-Gon’s and Satine’s deaths were pointless before,” Padmé said, “but with this, you can give them both meaning again. Use their deaths in guiding you to true power.”

Both Padmé and Anakin let go of him and Obi-Wan slowly walked forward. He lit his lightsaber and the red blade was slow pressed into Maul’s skin. The former Sith jerked and flinched but kept any noise inside as skin sizzled. However, Obi-Wan did not press it any deeper. He stopped and backed off. Turning to them, he said, “Death by a lightsaber is to elegant for someone like this.”

Anakin showed his teeth as he replied, “I couldn’t agree more.”

He took a sharp dagger from the already prepared set of weapons for them. He pressed it into Obi-Wan’s hand. “Have fun my love,” he said with a chaste kiss.

An unhinged, wild smile spread across Padmé’s face. Obi-Wan turned to Maul as his eyes flashed a brilliant shade of yellow.


End file.
